Awaiting Transplant, Carbon Man Sees The Hearts Of Others

June 09, 1992|by SUSAN TODD, The Morning Call

Barry Johnson never expected much from people. He worked long hours as a maintenance mechanic at Durkee-French Foods in Bethlehem, fished in his spare time and spent summer evenings having dinner with his wife on their boat at Beltzville Lake.

When doctors detected a problem with his heart earlier this year, he received a crash course in organ transplants, the demand for organ donations, the process of waiting and the factors doctors weigh as they decide who among the dozens waiting for an organ will be the one to get a second chance at life.

And when the waiting started, he began to learn much more -- about extraordinary generosity and human nature.

Johnson, 52, had an irregular heartbeat for 16 years. At 40, he started taking medication to regulate the heartbeat.

Then one day at work he felt dizzy and ended up staying home for a week. That's when doctors discovered his heart had become enlarged, crippling its ability to function at any more than 10 percent of its normal capacity.

There was no warning. No heart attack. Johnson said doctors suspect the problem may have been caused by a virus. The discovery spurred batteries of tests. Johnson, who weighed 215, has dropped 35 pounds.

"I guess I've learned the hard way," Johnson said Sunday, sitting in his living room in Lehighton. "You read in the paper people are rotten. You read about stabbings and crime. Going through something like this, you see the other side of people."

Johnson is among 80 people waiting for a heart, and during the past month, residents from across Carbon County have organized fund-raiser after fund-raiser for him. "Ninety-nine percent of them, I don't know," he said.

In Weissport, members of St. Matthew's Lutheran Church sold vegetable beef soup; K&G Food Inc. of Shamokin, owners of the Burger King restaurant in Lehighton, held a Cash O'La benefit on his behalf. Local businesses donated items sold in a benefit auction for Johnson last weekend.

That alone is touching to Johnson, so much so that when he talks about it, his eyes get teary. His voice cracks slightly.

But there are other examples. When he visited Burger King during its benefit last month, a young man approached Johnson, said he wanted to help, and handed him a check.

Johnson folded it and thanked the man.

"It was hard to talk with him," Johnson said. "I didn't know him."

The check, it turned out, was for $75, an amount Johnson said must have been quite a sacrifice for the young man he didn't know.

And there was the woman from Weatherly who sent Johnson a card with a dollar tucked inside. It wasn't much, the woman wrote. It was a lot to Johnson.

"There's so much good out there," Carol Johnson said.

While Johnson and his family continue to be touched by the surge of kindness, he waits for a telephone call from doctors at Hershey Medical Center. "Every time the phone rings, you're like this," Johnson said, sitting straight up, gripping the ends of the arms on his easy chair.

He re-reads cards and letters on his bad days to lift his spirits. He walks daily to build up his strength and distracts himself by watching NASCAR races.

"I probably didn't have a lot of patience before. Things that bothered me even six or seven months ago doesn't even faze me. You look at things a lot differently," Johnson said.

"One thing I've noticed. People are so wrapped up in work. They don't enjoy what they have. They're always pushing for something more."

The revelation has helped Johnson prioritize the things he wants to do when he is well. He won't work overtime, he says, and he will go fishing, something he hasn't done in months.

"The first day of trout season was tough, just sitting here watching the rain. That was the one that hurt," he said, adding quickly, optimistically: "Next year."